Alma 63

In the thirty-sixth year, Shiblon acquired the sacred items Alma once gave to Helaman. He was a worthy heir in both religiosity and behavior. A man almost obsessively good.

Before the year was out, Moroni had died. Enough has been said about him. No need to muddy the water further.

In the thirty-seventh year about 5,400 men (plus wives and children, whom we still don’t count) emigrated from Zarahemla northward. One of them, a researcher and inventor named Hagoth built a huge ship near Bountiful and Desolation and launched it into the west sea near the isthmus people used as a route to the north. A lot of Nephites boarded the ship, adventurers by temperament, took provisions and sailed north instead of walking it.

In the thirty-eighth year he built other ships. The first ship returned, however, and many more people boarded it, loaded for the long haul. We never saw them again. Probably shipwrecked. Or castaways. Or more adventurous than we’d thought. Or just drowned. Another ship of Hagoth’s sailed north and seems to have met a similar fate. This was all part of the land-rush fever that speculators fueled.

In the thirty-ninth year Shiblon also died. Corianton, the next in line, had sailed north to take supplies to the previous émigrés. Meanwhile, Helaman Jr. claims to have the original manuscripts. He’s gone on notice that they will be available to the public by summer.

Everything not specifically proscribed by angels or by Alma will go public. That is, except for further revelation. The chain of descent of these materials (especially these plates) is patriarchal. Because the church holds such meager sway, we’ll improve our record-keeping in the next few months. We understand how sensitive these matters can get.

Now for a word about the bad boys: demonstrators, sign-wavers, Lamanite sympathizers scrapping for a fight. They headed down to Moronihah, attacked, and faced a near-demonic rebuff. They lost savagely.

The thirty-ninth year of the judges’ reign

and the end of this account by Alma, Helaman, and Shiblon.